Some 120km southeast of Xánthi, the modern city of ALEXANDHROÚPOLI (Dedeagaç to the Turks), designed by Russian military architects during the Russo-Turkish war of 1878, does not, on first acquaintance, have much to recommend it: a border town and military garrison, with overland travellers in transit and Greek holiday-makers competing in summer for limited space in the few hotels and the campsite.

 

The town became Greek in 1920, when it was renamed Alexandhroúpoli after a visit from Greece's King Alexander. There are no obvious sights and the heavy military presence can be oppressive. The Turkish quarter, literally on the wrong side of the tracks, may or may not whet the appetite for the unadulterated article across the border. Otherwise it's the lively seafront that best characterizes the town; dominated by a seventeen-metre-tall lighthouse built in 1880 (and adopted as the town's symbol), it comes alive at dusk when the locals begin their evening vólta . In summer, café tables spill out onto the road and around the lighthouse; makeshift stalls on the pavements sell pirate cassettes, pumpkin seeds and grilled sweetcorn.